


Sliding Doors

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 22:29:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10500741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: Brienne and Jaime meet on a commuter train. Interest is piqued.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick little meet cute ficlet that I put together when my Valentine's fic was slowly creeping towards a standstill.
> 
> As always, thank you for RoseHeart and Sandwiches for their support. Nothing that you recognise belongs to me, I'm just borrowing characters to allow them to meet over and over again :)

For the first time in a very long time, Brienne Tarth was running late. She couldn't even pinpoint how the comedy of errors had come about that particular morning, both her alarms were pre-programmed, her briefcase always left beside the work clothes she'd picked out the night before and her old, overweight, overindulged cat never gave her more than a passing glare as she unlocked the front door. But after she'd slept through both renditions of Beauty and the Beast, spilled coffee down her only clean shirt and misplaced her monthly travel pass, Brienne had accepted she wouldn't be ready for her early morning team meeting before she'd even taken a step out into the unseasonably heavy, driving rain.

Her normal morning routine had been repeated and perfected so many times over the last few years that she was usually never more than a minute off schedule, even with the additional time cushion she'd calculated in for the less than reliable commuter trains. There were many perks associated with working for Stark, Mormont and Reed, but her junior associate's salary wasn't quite enough to reduce her hour long journey into the city. With her usual train having long since disappeared towards the city, the quiet one with super fast wi-fi and just enough leg room, she was now forced to fight her way across the platform to board an overcrowded and unwelcoming carriage.

Squeezing her broad frame further through the crowd of disgruntled passengers, Brienne managed to save the last available seat for a pregnant lady she'd seen struggling down the station stairs, pressing her back against the closed track side doors while those around her grumbled audibly at the sound of further delays being announced. Already in the process of pulling out her ear buds, Brienne was so focused on sending another message to her frazzled assistant that she almost didn't notice the man who seemed to jump the barrier and gracefully embarked seconds before the guard's whistle blew and the train lurched forward. Distracted as she was, Brienne would have had to be blind to completely miss the golden demigod who'd been thrown towards her in the initial jolt of velocity, his hand now resting perilously close to her own on the overhead bar.

He gave her a slow, considered once over, appearing more curious than disgusted in her unfortunately mismatched features, but his smug smile still reminded her of similar stares she'd caught the end of hundreds of times before. The boys and girls who had made her school life a nightmare, from kindergarten right through to grad school, had always started with a glance and an innocent enough question. So, just as he opened his mouth to comment on her freckles, badly healed nose or oversized lips, she cut him off.

"I'm not interested in hearing about how the way I look means I should be guarding a bridge somewhere."

The golden demigod blinked, his eyes a surprising shade of green that should only exist in literature. "Excuse me?" he drawled, swaying gently from side to side with the movement of the train.

Brienne cleared her throat, making the most of the half inch height difference as she glared down at him. "The last man who stood where you are inferred that I was at least part ogre."

"He clearly didn't notice the distinct lack of horns," her fellow commuter replied, the sound of his snorted laugh blunt though not entirely unkind. "But I'm neither a woodland animal or a hidden princess, so I think I should be okay to come into your castle."

Narrowing her eyes, as if that could help her distinguish the type of advance that was meant to burrow under her skin from all too familiar mocking insult, she tried to shuffle away as the train shuddered to a halt but the motion only pushed her close enough to feel the muscles of his chest and biceps against her own, a tinny voice cutting through the descending fog in her mind to apologise for even more delays down the line.

"So how are we going to fill all this extra time, then?" the man murmured, part undemanding jest, part calculated tease.

"By waiting here quietly?"

"Then it's going to be a very dull journey."

"Good," she huffed, wanting to cross her arms but finding she didn't have the space to do anything more than glare at him again.

His real smile ought to be illegal, she decided, watching a spark of something genuine twitch along his lips as he tried to offer his hand to shake. "I'm Jaime, by the way."

If only she'd woken up at her usual time, she wouldn't be stuck on a failing train, pressed up against quite possibly the hottest man she'd ever met. She sighed, hoping Catelyn would understand her absence at the team meeting. "Brienne."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
